American Baptists - I need your input/exprieinces please

[pamperedpoultry]

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I'm kinda tickled pink everyone has played nice

I keep cringing every time i hit refresh and look at the next post..

Night!

 

[calicokat]

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Almost how we do it, but our church constitution DOES call for a vote of the church members present at that time for the person to be accepted as a member. And this is something that we've gotten away from in the last several decades. The answer to my delima may be as simple as reminding the deacons & pastor of this part of the constitution, and then it would be in the membership's lap to make that call. Hmmmm, interesting.

 

[calicokat]

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Chickened - I really like your explanation

ok, now I really do need to go. But darn, the conversation is so good

 

[chickened]

It pays to read the rules.

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Almost how we do it, but our church constitution DOES call for a vote of the church members present at that time for the person to be accepted as a member. And this is something that we've gotten away from in the last several decades. The answer to my delima may be as simple as reminding the deacons & pastor of this part of the constitution, and then it would be in the membership's lap to make that call. Hmmmm, interesting.

 

[calicokat]

chickened - yeah, especially when I'm the church secretary! We've been pouring over the CHANGE to the constitution, when a SOLUTION may already be there. I'll have to check in the morning to be sure.

 

[chickened]

I am a stickler for details and can usually find a loophole. Do you feel like a politician? "Let the people decide". Good luck.

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[TinyChickenLady]

Hmmm yea I never really thought about the fine print that's already in place. There can be a little loophole that might help to solve a majority of your dilemna.
But how important is it to the church that the couple may already have committed to each other in front of the other and God? There is such a thing as "common law marriage." Is that recognized by the church?


P.S.

Yay for us for having 12 pages so far without any locking or admonishing!!

 

[calicokat]

See, we can all play nice together if we try, yes?

TinyChickenLady - I don't think Indiana has Common Law marriages, have to check. Since the Pastor has spoken to them and counselled on the topic, I suspect that they don't qualify as Common Law, since he still sees it as a roadblock to their becoming members.

Well, I checked the constitution this AM and the old and the new version both state: "Reception of members shall be affirmed by the members present at the time candidates are presented"

The rub and disagreement is that in most all Baptist churches, Baptism = membership.

The new pastor wants to seperate that so the candidate would be baptised . . . .. . have membership class for like 6 weeks . . . . . then be presented for membership. But in the specific instance of the living togethers, they wouldn't get presented for membership until after the class AND after they "clean up" their living arrangement.

So the change would be moving the congregation away from American Baptist practices and towards more of a Community Church or non-denominational practice.

 

[un-named]

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Almost how we do it, but our church constitution DOES call for a vote of the church members present at that time for the person to be accepted as a member. And this is something that we've gotten away from in the last several decades. The answer to my delima may be as simple as reminding the deacons & pastor of this part of the constitution, and then it would be in the membership's lap to make that call. Hmmmm, interesting.

How does the present congregation go about voting on membership? An open show of hands or something more discreet?

 

[calicokat]

Well, they haven't done the voting in several decades, so I'm not really sure. I *think* the candidates names are presented at the monthly or quarterly business meeting - from what I've read of old meeting minutes. So it doesn't actually take place in the sanctuary on Sunday morning. (I'm still researching and learning as I dig into this topic.)

Now it sure reads like it should be done in the Sunday morning service, so that may be another wording change needed, if it needs to happen at a meeting. And of course at a meeting, it would be simple to do a secret ballot.